New Lead in Case of Missing Family of Four

(March 7) -- More than a month after the McStay family mysteriously disappeared in Fallbrook, Calif., authorities are investigating a new lead: video surveillance of a family of four crossing the U.S.-Mexico border that appears to be consistent with Joseph McStay, 40, his wife, Summer, 43 and their children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph, 3.

"What we see in this video is a lead and that lead is encouraging to us," San Diego County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Roy Frank told AOL News. "We can't be sure that it is the McStay family but we do know their vehicle was parked about five minutes away, walking distance, on the same day the video shows a family of four walking across the border."

The video taken from the rooftop of a private business on the border is dated Feb. 8, the same day the McStays' abandoned white Isuzu Trooper was towed from a parking lot near the U.S.-Mexico border. The family was last heard from by relatives and business contacts four days earlier, on Feb. 4, prompting a homicide investigation into their vanishing and bringing sorrow to the community where family and friends continue to hope for their return.

The video shows an adult male, an adult female and two children "of about the same age" walking across the border, but Sgt. Frank acknowledges it is difficult to see clear images of the people's faces. Joseph McStay's brother, Mike McStay, expresses his skepticism about the video in a blog post Sunday at the McStay family Web site.

"I have seen the videos firsthand along with my mom, " he wrote. "The video quality is very poor. I personally could NOT make a positive identification."

McStay adds that "two or three families" are seen crossing the border in the video, one of which includes a little girl, and the other with a man McStay says "walks nothing like my brother."

According to Frank, officials are enhancing the surveillance footage in an effort to examine the faces more closely and potentially identify the McStays. He said investigators would survey additional video of the parking lot where the McStays' car was abandoned to see if video will show a family walking away from the vehicle and heading to the border.

For Michael McStay, the video provides few clues.

"The vehicle was found near the border, but there are no eyewitnesses as to who actually got out of the vehicle," he wrote. "The vehicle could have been parked by others, we simply do not know at this time."

The sheriff's department sends investigators to Mexico two to three times a week to look into cases including that of the McStays.

"This is a true mystery," Frank told AOL News. "We're hopeful that we're going to find the McStay family whether they went to Mexico or not."